As she comes of age, Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, a plain but well-trained and extremely clever woman is taken from the remote home where she has been raised by her aunt and uncle. She knows she is to be queen. She knows that people are out to get her – including her uncle who has sat in temporary place on the throne since her mother died and until she rose to power.

Her first act is to stop the shipping of human slaves to the nearby, stronger country. Having won her Queen’s guard over, she acts and suddenly not only is her throne in peril, but the whole queendom. However she has two necklaces that she wears that give her power – a power that no-one, not even she, understands.

This book was introduced to me as the next big thing in fantasy fiction – a book that Emma Watson read and immediately signed up for the films. And it is really easy to get caught up in it. The protagonist is an educated women who makes considered decisions, and is not afraid to stand up to her guard despite her youth and gender. And then there is the fantasy part – the fact that she has mysterious necklaces, and that the queen across the way has some most strange powers… Oooh, it is exciting.